What are the origins of the Antarctic Intermediate Waters transported by the North Caledonian

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Maes, C., Gourdeau, L., Couvelard, X., Ganachaud, A.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'études en Géophysique et océanographie spatiales (LEGOS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00287143; https://hal.science/hal-00287143/document; https://hal.science/hal-00287143/file/2007GL031546.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031546

International audience The trajectories of several Argo floats are studied to investigate the mid-depth circulation in the southwest Pacific that coincides with the spreading of the Antarctic Intermediate Waters (AAIW). Before entering the Coral Sea, the floats converge and join the North Caledonian Jet (NCJ) south of 15°S. These observations suggest that the waters transported by this jet do not have a unique source. Hydrologic parameters and oxygen concentration confirm that the characteristics of the AAIW in the NCJ result from a convergence and a mixing of waters from the northern limb of the subtropical gyre and from the southeastern New Caledonian region. The northern contribution is associated with the water masses transported by the North Vanuatu jet that re-circulate in the region between the D'Entrecasteaux reefs and the Vanuatu archipelago. It is shown that such complex dynamical features could be reproduced by numerical models when their horizontal resolution is sufficiently high.